Customizable quick settings could be coming to Android L

The quick settings pane is one of the most useful features in more recent versions of Android, giving users fast and easy to access to a whole bunch of shortcuts and toggles for different settings and functions. The only problem is, we all want quick access to different things — depending on how we use our phones — and Google’s stock options aren’t ideal for all.

Third-parties like Samsung and HTC have addressed this complaint by giving users the option to customize their quick settings pane, and a request in the official Android issue tracker suggests may finally do the same for Android L.

The post, entitled “custom quick settings,” was published on July 1, and calls for the “possibility to rearrange quick settings and possibility to choose which quick settings show or not.” The poster notes that similar functionality is already available in stock Android thanks to custom ROMs like CyanogenMod and Paranoid Android.

Google was quick to acknowledge the feature request. “We have passed this on to the development team and will update this issue with more information as it becomes available,” wrote a Google project member. The request’s status has since changed from “Acknowledged” to “Accepted,” and it has even been assigned a feature number (16186589).

Of course, this doesn’t really confirm anything; although Google has “accepted” the request there’s no guarantee it will actually do anything with it. But the search giant’s decision to finally acknowledge our call for this feature — and to see so many other Android users asking for it, too — is certainly promising.

All we can do now is wait to see what Google’s Android L developments bring. The first developer preview, which doesn’t yet include all of Android L’s new features and improvements — was made available shortly after Google I/O on June 23. We hope to see another build soon with some of those changes included.